Jane Fonda on plastic surgery: 'I hate the fact that I've had the need to alter myself'

In “Jane Fonda In Five Acts,” a new HBO documentary about her life, the 80-year-old Hollywood legend says she can’t take all the credit for her youthful good looks.

Jane Fonda at the premiere of “Jane Fonda In Five Acts” (Getty Images)

“I’m glad I look good for my age, but I’ve had plastic surgery,” she said. “I’m not going to lie about that.”

The Oscar-winner and activist admitted that she sometimes wishes she had chosen to age like her contemporaries.

“On one level, I hate the fact that I’ve had the need to alter myself physically to feel that I’m OK,” she explained in the documentary. “I wish I wasn’t like that. I love older faces. I love lived-in faces. I loved Vanessa Redgrave’s face.”

“I wish I was braver,” Fonda continued. “But I am what I am.”

The “Grace & Frankie” star has said that she grew up believing that looks, particularly a woman’s looks, were her only form of currency.

In 2011, Fonda toldHarper’s Bazaar that she was “vain” and said, “I was taught by my father that how I looked was all that mattered, frankly. He was a good man, and I was mad for him, but he sent messages to me that fathers should not send: Unless you look perfect, you’re not going to be loved.”

Fonda has spoken publicly about her plastic surgery in the past, particularly about women using surgery for unhealthy reasons. In a 2015 interview with The Guardian, the actress said she believes women’s tendencies to go too far with surgeries are a consequence of early-life trauma.

“The danger with surgery is you say: ‘Oh this is good, let me do more. It can be an addiction. Thirty per cent of women were sexually abused when they were young. And a woman who has been sexually abused will have a tendency to go too far. When you’re young it can be this” – she said miming self harm – “and when you’re older it can be plastic surgery. When I see a woman who’s made her face a mask I say: ‘I bet, I bet.’”

Despite her plastic surgery regrets, Fonda is still one of Hollywood’s most sought after talents and proof that age, truly is just a number.